Gailey has proven that Jones made the right decision

IRVING - The first time the two had a chance to get together, the conversation spilled over late into the evening.

Eventually, the interview moved to the home of Jerry Jones. The Dallas Cowboys' owner rustled through the kitchen a little before midnight and found some chicken and rice.

Jones and Chan Gailey resumed their discussion over a plate of leftovers.

"That tells you something about a guy," Gailey said. "He wasn't trying to put on airs. He wasn't trying to play a position. He was just being a regular guy, and I appreciated that."

Despite the Cowboys' loss in the wild-card game against Arizona last week, there is validation that Jones made the right move in hiring Gailey to coach the team. He has helped resurrect a lethargic offense and instilled an attention to detail that had been lacking.

Jones appears to have found the ideal complement for his personality. In the 11 months the two have worked together, Gailey has become the X's and O's yin to Jones' management yang. Gailey quietly funnels his time and energy into practices and game plans; Jones oversees the entire operation in his highprofile way.

Each has his own area of expertise. Each seems comfortable with the relationship. The line between Jones and his coach that often became blurred in the past is now clear.

The honeymoon has gone well.

"Let me just say one thing," Jones said. "If I was sitting here today, and we couldn't get this early read that it was a good fit, then I misjudged. I didn't evaluate the situation properly.

"To some degree, it wouldn't be Chan's fault if it wasn't working. It would be my fault."

Jones has said he spent more time evaluating what the Cowboys needed in their head coach than he did in purchasing the club nearly 10 years ago.

It wasn't just a question of finding a qualified person. It was a question of finding someone who could complement Jones in his role as general manager. It was finding someone with enough knowledge of the sport to carve out an identity separate, yet subservient, to Jones.

Those dynamics didn't exist when Jimmy Johnson was at Valley Ranch. Jones hired Johnson. There was no question who was in charge. But since both came to the Cowboys as NFL neophytes, there was a sense the two men were on equal footing. What had been a cooperative spirit slowly turned competitive.

When that relationship ended, Jones turned to Barry Switzer. Switzer constantly had to deal with criticism that he was nothing more than the owner's hand puppet. Switzer's presence eroded because he didn't have an area of expertise that was visible to the players and the public.

Jones took all of that into account before hiring Gailey. Jones is the owner and general manager. His very presence can undercut the authority of the coach unless that person has a defined role and a way to earn the respect of the players.

Gailey's avenue to respect is the offense. He's the offensive coordinator in addition to head coach. He calls the plays - a clause Jones put in Gailey's contract to assure there was no confusion who was in charge in this area.

"That's more of what we were looking for," said Stephen Jones, the team's executive vice president and one of Jones' sons. "Jerry is not only the owner but the general manager.

"If you have coaches who don't have specific functions in the team, then they look for other areas, such as personnel, to be involved in. Bill Parcells (of the New York Jets) is like that. Jimmy is like that. They like to fashion themselves not only as the head coach but the general manager.

"Chan is low-key. But he is, in my opinion, more detail-involved than the other two guys were. Jimmy and Barry didn't call plays. They didn't call defenses. They were more of the figurehead if you will."

A position already occupied by Jones.

Gailey heard the stories.

Jones wouldn't be content to let Gailey or anyone else coach. He would step on toes. He would interfere. Gailey concedes he heard those sort of comments so often that it became a concern.

"Did I talk about it with him?" Gailey asked rhetorically. "Not really. That's not something I made a big deal about.

"Did I ask other people? Yes, I did. Everybody I talked to said the stories were unfounded, that things had been blown way out of proportion. And the people I talked to, I trusted."

Gailey has told friends that Jones is nothing like he's often portrayed. He said it's sad Jones is perceived as such a controlling figure.

"What I see Jerry as is a guy who loves the Cowboys, who loves winning and wants to do what it takes to win," Gailey said. "And he wants to know what's going on. He wants to sit in the meetings, he wants to hear what's going on with game plans and preparations. He wants to be on the practice field. He wants to be on the sidelines.

"I don't have a problem with that. First of all, it's his team. He can do whatever he wants. And second of all, he's not interfering. He's trying to encourage and be a part of the process and help the process."

Jones will often ask Gailey why something is being done in a particular way, or why he ran this play instead of that one.

But Gailey isn't threatened by these exchanges. He doesn't take them as an implied order.

"Never," Gailey said. "And if he does say, `Why don't you do it this way?,' it's a question."

Jones knows he is his own worst enemy on this front. When he daydreams in the media about wanting to coach, as he has done periodically in recent years, it only fosters the perception that he's an owner who wants to pull all the strings.

This image is one that eats at Jones.

"I do respect talent," Jones said. "I do respect experience, and I listen. But, ultimately, I know I'm going to be responsible for the decision.

"I was always taken aback when the question arised as to who was making personnel decisions, me or Jimmy. It surprised me that became an issue at all when the ultimate authority on any decision is me."

Jones didn't know Gailey, as he did Johnson and Switzer. Jones had to go out and find him.

What Jones found in Gailey was a person who reminded him of his father, in terms of his imagination and attention to detail. Jones found "someone who was above reproach and criticism for what they stood for individually." This was important, given the off-the-field problems that were swirling around the Cowboys at the time.

Gailey cuts a much lower profile than Johnson or Switzer. His personality isn't as volatile.

"I think his personality is a good fit with Jerry," Stephen Jones said. "I think they complement each other very well. And I think they both respect each other tremendously."

The two are different in many ways. Jones is a a public person. Gailey isn't. But the two mesh.

"We don't spend time together away from here," Gailey said. "We don't chum around and stuff like that. But I don't do that with anybody. I'm probably a little more of a loner type person in that respect.

"He and I have, I think, a very healthy relationship considering where we are and who we are."

Jones agrees.

"I want Chan and us to be together for a long time, and it's got a great chance to work because of what I see in him, his creativeness and his willingness to make adjustments," Jones said. "I don't see in any way there ever being an issue of how we work together. I don't see that."

Gailey said he doesn't anticipate the other shoe dropping. He expects the relationship will continue to be smooth and successful.

And what about that late-night meal of chicken and rice?

"It was great," Gailey said. "It was better than anything we could have gotten at a store.